WEBVTT 33WELCOME TO SPORTS EVERYONE...IT WAS LADIES DAY AT PAULSON STADIUM...GEORGIA SOUTHERN HOLDING THE WOMENS FOOTBALL CLINIC THIS AFTERNOON DOZENS OF WOMEN PARTICIPATED IN THE EVENT WHERE THEY LEARNED ABOUT THE GAME OF FOOTBALL, TOURED GEORGIA SOUTHERNS FOOTBALL FACILITY, GOT A PEP TALK FROM HEAD COACH TYSON SUMMERS IN THE LOCKER ROOM AND THEN GOT THE CHANCE TO RUN OUT OF THE TUNNEL AND ON TO THE FIELD WHERE THEY WERE DOING EVERYTHING FROM THROWING TO BLOCKING ...THE CLINIC FOCUSED TEACHING THE LADIES MORE ABOUT THE GAME OF FOOTBALL BUT IT WAS ALSO A CHANCE FOR THE WOMEN OF EAGLE NATION TO BOND3

Nearly 200 Lady Eagles took the field of Paulson Stadium Saturday as Georgia Southern held its second annual Women's Football Clinic, presented by East Georgia Regional Medical Center, for a day full of prizes, tours and drills.

Participants began showing up around 11:15 a.m., grabbing a jersey, a Women's Football Clinic T-shirt and checking out season tickets as they registered shortly before lunch. They were invited inside Bishop Field House to register for door prizes, ranging from gift cards from stores and restaurants to the grand prize: an authentic Georgia Southern helmet, a blue camo hat, and a package for the home game against Troy with two tickets, two sideline passes and a parking pass.

After registration and enjoying lunch, the ladies took their seats in Bishop for the beginning of the clinic. Danny Reed, Voice of the Eagles, started things off by greeting everyone and introducing head coach Tyson Summers. Summers thanked everyone for attending and let the ladies know how much their support means to the players. After talking about his Five Pillars for the team, Summers introduced his coaching staff, jokingly mentioning which of them were single.

Coach Summers's wife, Beth, went after him to speak about her experiences with the new location. Beth Summers mentioned that she preferred the heat of a Georgia summer over shoveling snow in the winters of Colorado. She then told a story about her son's first day at a new school in the middle of the year, walking into a classroom full of Georgia Southern shirts. Coach Summers then took the stage again and asked for a round of applause for the wives of the coaching staff.

With introductions complete, Equipment Manager Adam Brooks went over the cost of each piece of equipment, looking at over $1,000 per player, and more than $200,000 for the entire team with game day and workout clothing and gear. Showing off the end result of the equipment were Favian Upshaw, Matt Breida and Ironhead Gallon. With volunteers splitting into two groups of three, the groups raced to entirely dress one member of the team correctly in full gear within three minutes. The winning team completed their uniform in under two minutes with the second group close behind.

The ladies split into teams based on their White or Blue jerseys and headed for the Ted Smith Family Football Center. As one team took a tour of the weight room, training room and locker room, the other team learned the mechanics of the game in the team meeting room. Defensive Coordinator Lorenzo Costantini got the ladies involved by having them clap if he said "Defense" and shouting "Boom!" if he said "Line."

With the tours complete, the ladies got the opportunity to run through the tunnel and onto the field to participate in tackling, punting, running, blocking and passing drills. The women worked in four, three-minute increments, rotating stations each time. To finish the clinic, everyone moved back into Bishop for dessert and to draw for the door prizes and the grand prize.

Summers had positive views about the clinic, as well as having similar events.

"It was good," he said. "We had a lot of ladies come out today and it should help them participate in the fall and the spring, It's a fantastic opportunity [for the Statesboro community and Georgia Southern] to reach out and build the fan base."

Georgia Southern kicks off the season at home in 49 days against Savannah State. The Eagles are coming off a 9-4 season, winning their first bowl game against Bowling Green in the GoDaddy Bowl. The Eagles return 37 lettermen and 12 starters.